NOW AVAILABLE!  The Lost Civilization of North America is a powerful new documentary film by award winning filmmaker Rick Stout that is beginning to bring to light the highly advanced and sophisticated civilizations that existed in North America prior to European exploration. Emeritus Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Roger Kennedy, explains how this ancient civilization was lost to time through racial bigotry, misunderstanding, scientific agenda's and deliberate deceptions against the modern descendants of these ancient cultures. Expert historians, anthropologists, researchers, linguists, archaeologists, and Native Americans tell the story of how this civilization, that existed near the time of Christ in North America, was shunned, ignored, and hidden away for hundreds of years, but new findings are bringing again to light the incredible story of this ancient civilization that rivaled all others of the world of its time. 

Click on the image below to watch the trailer! 

Roger Kennedy, together with Harvard PhD anthropologist Alice Kehoe, reveals the racist and religiously bigoted perspectives that developed within even the  scientific community.  In the film, Kennedy and Kehoe explore the development of theories of cultural evolution and how these theories influenced and were propounded by Lewis Henry Morgan who would become president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and John Wesley Powell, who became Director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution.

Historian Terry Barnhart PhD of Eastern Illinois University and publisher Wayne May carry us through the exploration, surveying and mapping of the great earthworks and other structures that dotted the landscape of the middle and eastern United States by anthropologist Ephraim George Squier.  They explain how the doctrine of Manifest Destiny encouraged the “wanton destruction” of so many of these structures and the hiding away and discrediting of artifacts found within them.

PhD anthropologist and Native American Sonya Atalay of the University of California - Berkley explains how Native Americans have been robbed of much of their history, because what was found conflicted with the scientific notions of the day, which were that they were “isolated savages”.  Atalay, together with ancient language expert Bruce Porter PhD, reveals the written language of her people, which has been compared with ancient Egyptian, stored since ancient times in copper tubes and written on birch bark scrolls. With emotion Sonya Atalay describes her experience as she first visited the Great Octagon and Circle and the Great Newark Earthworks in Ohio, as Brad Lepper, Curator of Archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society describes the amazing knowledge of astronomy and mathematics which it took to build such a magnificent structure.  He tells about the Hopewell people who are believed to have built the Earthworks and lived upon this land from 300 years BC to AD 500.

Lost Civilization shows many of the artifacts that have survived, the written stone tablets, the copper and iron tools and weapons and others that reveal an origin for these people that was purposely hidden away.  We go with the film to the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, Ohio where Museum Director Patti Malenke describes the controversy behind the “Holy Stones”, upon which are written the entire Ten Commandments in Monumental [block] Hebrew, found within the Newark Earthworks of Ohio.

Anthropologist and DNA scientist Deborah Bolnick PhD of the University of California - Davis, who sequenced and analyzed DNA samples from ancient Hopewell remains, discusses their DNA ties with Mediterranean groups. Together with DNA researcher Rod Meldrum, Lost Civilization traces these Native American DNA groups back to their middle-eastern origins.

The Lost Civilization of North America is a powerful and exciting new documentary film that gives answers to the question of why we haven’t heard about the great civilizations that existed on the North American continent previously and why theories about their origins have passed unnoticed out of place and time.  Available Friday, January 8th, 2010.  Orders will be shipped beginning Monday, Jan. 11th.  You don't want to miss this incredible new research and information pertaining to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  To order this monumental new film simply click on The Lost Civilization of North America.

The most exciting and comprehensive DVD series on Book of Mormon geography is finally ready for production after over 2 years of gathering high-definition film footage, conducting interviews, and creating graphics that has taken 8 months of editing to complete this massive project.  You will experience this research like never before!  On location explanations, interviews with renowned filmmakers, artists, historians, and experts in several fields.  Over 9 hours of in-depth explanations and presentations that will have you saying like so many thousands of others, "Why didn't I know this before?"  This DVD series is being described as the most powerful evidence for the truthfulness and historicity of the Book of Mormon ever assembled by those who have previewed it. 

The 5 DVD disk series includes:

DVD 1; Prophecies and Promises; Promised Land Correlations with the United States of America

DVD 2; Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon Geography

DVD 3; DNA and the Book of Mormon; Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA

DVD 4; Book of Mormon Correlations; Correlations between the Nephites and the Hopewell Civilization

DVD 5; The Heartland Geography; Mapping the Book of Mormon using the Heartland Geography

Each of the DVD's is approximately an hour an a half in length plus bonus features making them about 2 hours total viewing time per DVD.

You will see interviews with:

Elder Hartman Rector Jr., emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy

Kieth Merrill, award winning filmmaker and writer and director of 'Legacy' and 'The Testaments'

Wayne N. May, author and publisher of Ancient American magazine

Bruce H. Porter Ph.D., author and LDS ancient linguistics scholar, CES director

Kay Godfrey, 30 year Joseph Smith period historian and Church History tour host

David Lindsley, renowned LDS artist and painter of Joseph Smith artwork on the current Church manual

Dr. Robert Fuller, owner of the Zermatt Resort, Midway Utah.

Charles Allen, author of Out of Captivity and Zelph Mound location researcher

Shirley Whitlock, 15 year president of Eagle Forum of AZ, Constitutionalist

James Bradley, foremost expert and author of The Eternal Perspective of Zion's Camp

Jon McNaughton, renowned LDS artist and painter of One Nation Under God

Jason Millward, LDS sculptor, creator of Visions of the Past and The Promised Land sculptures

Michael Bedard, painter of the restoration, Nauvoo, IL

Cal Christensen, long time resident and historian of old Nauvoo

Click on the film frame below to see the introductory trailer to the DVD series

 LDS artist Jon McNaughton has created many beautiful pieces of art for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he just finished one of the most amazing paintings he has ever done.  One Nation Under God is an incredibly powerful painting about the Christian founding's and heritage of the United States of America.  The scene, depicting Christ holding the inspired Constitution of the United States in his right hand and holding it out to the world, has been the subject of much debate and controversy in the past week or two. Articles both supportive and derogatory have been published in Europe and across the United States.  News channels and liberal and conservative blogs have begun a firestorm of controversy over the symbolism embodied in the marvelous masterpiece.  If you have not seen this incredible painting before you must take time to feel  its message.  An interview and video, which was filmed by Rod Meldrum, has had over 28,000 viewings in just over two weeks! (a 2.5 minute shortened version)  The longer version (about 9 minutes), which includes an introduction by Rod, gives much more information about some of the symbolism of the painting from Jon himself. 

"Some so called experts have implied or concluded that our Founding Fathers and Patriots were not religious.  These secular champions, in an effort to further their own causes, have even painted these great men and women from our history as devoid of religious passions or even a belief in God.  This is part of their strategy to remove any discussion of God from the public forum."          --   Jon McNaughton

This painting is moving the discussion directly into the public forum!  Jon's website has gone from 300 to 8,000 hits per day in the last couple of weeks and people are talking about it everywhere!

Jon is offering a special offer for FIRM Foundation supporters!  If you purchase any prints or giclee' paintings from Jon's  website, simply put in the promotional code FIRMPROMO to receive a 10% discount off of your order!  That's right, just for being involved with the FIRM Foundation you will get this special discount! We have also made arrangements for a special pricing on a 20x30 canvas giclee' painting in a solid wood frame for a very special price.  Click HERE to learn about this masterpiece made especially for our supporters. 

To see the newly released video about this amazing painting click on the PHOTO!  To read about the symbolism, click HERE. To view the INTERACTIVE website where you can scroll over each figure in the painting to find out about each individual, click HERE. See the shortened version HERE.

Deseret Book is now stocking the newly released Prophecies and Promises book by Bruce H. Porter and Rod L. Meldrum.  We are very excited that Deseret Book is now offering this important new research for the first time. Please be sure to THANK them for making it available either in person to a store manager, or online by clicking HERE. 

Download the free excerpt of the book with the Foreword by Kieth Merrill available simply by clicking  on the FREE DOWNLOADS tab above and following the instructions.   

Please note that copies of the book should be available in all Utah stores by Friday, Nov. 13th and all out of state stores by next week, Nov. 16 - 20.  

Several news outlets covered portions of the National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference held Oct. 1-2, 2009.  This included TV Coverage from KSL, channel 5, and KSTU FOX-13 in their evening news segments. 

To see what they said click HERE. 

The National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference, held October 1-2, 2009 at the luxurious Zermatt Resort and Conference Center in Midway, Utah, was an overwhelming success!  This was a truly historical event that those who witnessed it will never forget!  The event was completely booked out two weeks in advance with over 400 in attendance, 25 incredible speakers, 34 lectures, and a magnificent keynote address by award winning filmmaker Kieth Merrill.  There were over 200 on the waiting list that could not attend the conference due to space restrictions.  To them we express our sincere apology for not being able to anticipate the interest and excitement about this information, and encourage those able to do so to plan to attend next years semi-annual conference being held April 1st and 2nd, 2010. 

Other speakers at the conference included Elder Hartman Rector Jr., Rod Meldrum, Wayne May, Bruce Porter Ph.D. Robert Fuller, Steven Smoot, Howard Carlos Smith, Mike Kennedy, Doug Brinley, Roger K. Young, Kay Godfrey, Harding Walker, Colette Smith, James Bradley, Donna Nielsen, Yvonne Bent, James Stoddard and George Papa with artists Jon McNaughton, David Lindsley, Jason Millward, Lois Kerr, and Dee Jay Bawden, with the most amazing musical voice talent throughout the conference by Michele Baer of Arizona.  See the bio's of these amazing speakers HERE. 

The National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference was covered by major news media outlets in Utah through TV broadcast and Newspaper.  Saturday morning before LDS Church General Conference two articles appeared in the Deseret News, which carried the event in headlines and articles in the UTAH section on pages B1, B2, and B4.  The headline article "Joseph Smith's sword is on display" covered the historic unveiling of the Prophet's legendary Nauvoo Legion Lieutenant General's sword, seen in public for the first time in 165 years!  A second article titled "North America preferred site for LDS film" discusses the brilliant keynote address of the conference by award winning filmmaker Kieth Merrill , who wrote and directed The Testaments for the Church.  

The online LDS news journal  Mormon Times  also published two fantastic articles about the event, mirroring the Deseret News articles. See the sword article HERE and the Kieth Merrill article HERE.    

KSL-TV (Channel 5) showed excepts of the event during their 6 o'clock PM broadcast, Fox News (KSTU Channel 13) showed the event in their 9:00 news , and KSL again showed this historic event on the 10 o'clock news! 

Most of those in attendance came from the states of Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and California but some came from as far as Missouri, New York, Canada and three came 12,000 miles to be in attendance from South Africa!  It was an wonderful event with so many great individuals from so many areas. 

The conference opened the afternoon after an early winter dusting of snow on the Timpanogus Mountain range, making the combination of the brilliant red, yellow and orange fall colors with the snow tipped mountains a breathtaking sight.  The Salmon and Steak dinner Thursday evening was tremendous as was the herb roasted chicken and beef sirloin lunch on Friday, all served at our tables (not buffet style).  Thanks again for the efficient, friendly, and cooperative Zermatt staff for making this a truly memorable occasion. 

We'd like to extend a very special THANK YOU to all who participated and helped in so many ways, including Dr. Robert Fuller of the fabulous Zermatt Resort and Spa who sponsored and hosted the event, Howard Carlos Smith for obtaining permission from the Noble Family to display the sword of Joseph Smith, Steven Smoot of the Family First Foundation, Mike Kennedy and Barry Kent, descendants of Joseph Smith and Joseph Bates Noble respectively, for coming to be special witnesses of the unveiling ceremony, Kieth Merrill for his unforgettable keynote address, and all the other presenters and artists, many of whom came from other states to be in attendance.  Each of these speakers did so completely at their own expense which is notable due to their individual caliber and quality.    

There were 14 exciting new items seen or released for the first time at the National Conference event. They were:

• The Prophet Joseph Smith's legendary Lieutenant General sword
• Prophecies and Promises long awaited book by Bruce Porter and Rod Meldrum
• Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA book by Rod Meldrum
• Documentary by Steven Smoot The Lost Civilization of North America preview
• Wayne May's newest book This Land: America 2,000 B.C. to 500 A.D.
• Doug Brinley's, American in Peril: Ten Stages in the Destruction of a Promised Land
• David Lindsley's new painting "Children of Light"
• Jason Millward's newly completed sculpture of Lehi's landing in North America
• Rod Meldrum's new book, Joseph Smith on Book of Mormon Geography
• Rod Meldrum's new 5 Disk DVD series Book of Mormon Evidences - The Heartland Model in the United States of America
• Jon McNaughton's new painting "One Nation Under God"
• Jason Millward's new sculpture "Visions of the Past" depicting the Zelph accounts
• David J. West, novelist, new Book of Mormon novel based in North America titled Heroes of the Fallen
• Michele Baer's new CD titled You're Worth it All

Click HERE for the archived email announcement. 

The FIRM Foundation and Rod Meldrum would like to extend our most sincere gratitude for everyone who contributed to making this all that it was hoped to be and it is hoped that all who were in attendance were uplifted by the speakers, messages, and music throughout the event.  If you attended the event and have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact Rod Meldrum at rodneymeldrum@hotmail.com

The Ancient American Artifact Exhibit is now officially opened in Palmyra, New York, near the ancient Hill Cumorah and the modern day Sacred Grove.  This newly created exhibit is housed in the luxurious Palmyra Inn, the nicest hotel accommodations near the Palmyra Temple and historic Palmyra.  Within the exhibit you will find ancient treasures dating back to before the time of Christ.  The ancient history in western New York and the heartland of the United States comes to life in this impressive new exhibit that allows a glimpse into past civilizations that thrived here in the Promised Land during Book of Mormon times. If you have the chance to experience the sacred sites in New York or are planning to attend the Hill Cumorah Pageant, you do not want to miss this beautiful new showroom quality exhibit. See the website at http://www.palmyrainn.com/

The belief that the Book of Mormon took place on the "Promised Land' of the United States of America is one that is widely accepted and gaining popularity.   Some will have the unforgettable opportunity to visit these sites in person - all can explore them through incredibly beautiful photography.  This 42 page full-color photo booklet of potential evidences of the Book of Mormon in North America is beautifully layed-out and printed, every page in rich color that includes artifacts, mounds, geography, and sites where church history and Book of Mormon history intersect.   Enjoy the visual journey through these sacred lands. Go to the products page if you'd like to own a copy of this wonderful booklet. 

Visit the Book of Mormon Evidences BLOG and post your comments, thoughts and feelings about this research!  Some older threads are dealing with the response from a Mesoamerican leaning apologetic group.  Please don't be intimidated by their attacks, but respond in a kind and Christ-like way. 

To access the blog and post your comments go to http://BookofMormonEvidenceBlog.wordpress.com/ and begin sharing your feelings on this important subject and this research project.

The History Channel documentary "Earthquake in the Heartland" which offers plausible connections between the destruction witnessed by the Nephites at the time of Christ and the New Madrid fault system that lies directly below the proposed geography of the Book of Mormon.  In 1811-1812 this fault system unleashed the most powerful series of earthquakes in North America in historic times.  Over 2,000 earthquakes, at least three of which were magnitude 8.0 or greater, shook this area to the point the entire land surface was changed.  You can order the DVD directly from the History Channel by clicking here . 

From the History Channel website:  "Could a killer earthquake strike America's heartland?  If history proves true, the answer is yes.  The 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes (centered in southeast Missouri) rank as some of North America's most catastrophic natural disasters.  Stretching more than 160 miles, a system of earthquake faults lurks beneath the Mississippi River basin, loaded and ready to erupt.  And it's happened before.  Pioneer residents of New Madrid, Missouri were thrown from their beds in the early hours of December 16, 1811 when an estimated 8-point earthquake hit.  But it wasn't just one event.  Multiple shocks were experienced over the next three months-the largest caused the Mississippi to flow backwards.  No earthquake sequence has lasted so long, produced so many shocks, nor created such astonishing phenomena on land and water.  The New Madrid Fault remains a seismically active area and experts expect a repeat.  The only question is when..."

These events created many of the same types of catastrophic phenominae as described in the account of the death of the Savior in the Book of Mormon.  This earthquake series caused the Mississippi to become dammed, causing a 30 wall of water to flow backwards, destroying everything in it's wake.  Bizarre geysers blasted sand and water over 100 feet high and buried area's under 10-20 feet of material.  A 3,000 square mile section of earth 'sunk' or subsided causing the Mississippi river to run into the depression, which formed a near instantaneous lake which still exists today, called Realfoot Lake.  Foul hydrocarbon vapors were discharged from deep underground, and huge fissures openned up, swalling cattle and homes.  In other area's lakes were witnessed to simply 'drain away' and many reported seeing strange lights glowing in the ground from piezoelectric phenominae.  The eyewitness accounts from 1811-1812 are amazingly similar to those from the text of the Book of Mormon.  Scientists have shown that similar events have occured several times in the ancient history of this area.  They have found ancient pottery shards below the geological horizons associated with these events, indicating that Native Americans had indeed preceeded some of these ancient catastrophic events. Could this fault system be associated with the Book of Mormon people?  There is a distinct possibility.